Human and animal bodies contain a number of ducts for moving fluids and material, such as blood vessels for carrying blood, the digestive tract for transporting and processing food, reproductive ducts for transporting reproductive fluids and gastric ducts for passing bile and other fluids. (As used herein duct is used broadly to encompass ducts, vessels, tubes and other ducts in a human or animal body.) Bodies also include various tissues for performing functions necessary to maintain the body. During surgery, these ducts or tissues may get in the way of the surgical procedure or may need to be cut for a variety of reasons. Additionally, these ducts or tissues may need to be closed and separated. In some cases, these ducts or tissues are the reason or part of the reason for surgery, such as tubal ligation, gall bladder removal, or resecting tissue of an organ, etc. Thus, a surgeon may clamp, block and/or cut ducts or tissue(s) in a variety of situations.
Separating ducts or sealing and cutting tissue can take time and require multiple instruments. Sometimes multiple instruments may be needed for each step during a surgical procedure. In the case of blood, if the surgeon does not adequately clamp, block and cut and tie-off or otherwise seal the blood vessels or other ducts or tissue, blood or other body fluids may leak. This may cause the unfortunate effect of obfuscating the surgical area and create other concerns such as causing blood coagulation and build-up on a surgical instrument. More importantly, the loss of blood can endanger the patient's life. A large bleeder can quickly cause death and even a small bleeder can cause significant injury or death over time. Likewise, the leaking of some body fluids may contaminate the area being operated on.
Cutting and sealing or tying off a blood vessel can be a cumbersome process. If a doctor desires to cut a major vessel, he or she will typically clamp both sides of where the cut is to be made. Once each side is clamped, the incision is made and the ends are either tied off or are sealed to prevent blood loss through the vessel after the incision. In a surgery involving many blood vessels, it can be time consuming and tiring to properly clamp, cut and tie off or seal each vessel. This is particularly so if the surgeon has to cut out or cut through tissue. Thus, there is a need for an instrument that can simply cut tissue, ducts, etc. while preventing leakage from any ducts. Additionally, there is a need for an improved method of clamping, cutting and sealing a duct or tissue in a human or animal body.
Another consideration in sealing and cutting ducts or tissues is ensuring that the sealing and cutting is done generally consistently across the duct or tissue. If the sealing and cutting is done with a scissor-like instrument, more sealing may be applied on one side of the duct or tissue (i.e. the portion closest to the hinge of the surgical instrument) than on the opposing side because more force is applied adjacent the hinge. Thus, it is believed that it would be preferable to have surfaces which are used to seal and cut ducts or tissue to engage the tissue generally parallel to one another, thereby providing a more consistent seal.